Taste
by morph
Summary: The TARDIS knows something is wrong, so she sends in the troops. TARDIS POV. Part of my TARDIS 100 series. Set during the beginning of 'The Long Game.' One Shot.


AN: I don't own Doctor Who or anything to do with it. I'm just a poor author recovering from a dislocated knee trying to have some fun writing some fics. This is a part of my TARDIS 100 series and is in the POV of the TARDIS. This takes place during the beginning of 'The Long Game.' Please enjoy and remember reviews and a GOOD thing. Betaed by the lovely LilCosette.

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Something… was different. Something was fictional.

I took it upon myself to do a security check. I went deep.

At first, the security check came up clear, but that feeling that something was _wrong _would not leave me alone. I could _taste _it; a tiny little shift in the information. Someone was down there who shouldn't be down there, perhaps more than one. So I double checked. Triple checked.

There! That's it! Gotcha. Time to send in the troops.

I knew that this was going to be Adam's first adventure since he first walked through my doors. It was his first taste of what his life would be like if he stayed on. I didn't know for sure how he would react to the new environment and whatever danger could and probably would be there, but the Doctor and Rose would take him under their wings and I was sure he would be just fine. I was wrong, unfortunately. I'm sorry to admit I couldn't foresee what he would do, the betrayal he would commit. Had he been actually within me when he tried to pass on that information to the distant past, I would have been able to stop him easily. I must not linger on those thoughts now.

The year was 200 000. The place was Satellite 5. I picked a suitable corner and made a smooth landing. I told the Doctor the year, which was all he wanted to know. This was to be one of those trips where they work out most things on their own, which is fine with me so long as they don't forget to work their way back to me when they're done with the world or the world is done with them. The Doctor and Rose told Adam to hold on for a second and not to go anywhere while they checked to make sure it was safe. Adam was happy to stay and wonder at my console. The curious, still-developing scientist in him was practically trembling.

Outside, the Doctor was giving Rose all the info she needed to be in charge for the next few moments. He looked around at the room I landed them in and made some quick assessments.

"So, it's two hundred thousand, it's a spaceship... no wait a minute, space station, and uh…" He pointed to a gate where he assumed an observation deck would be. "Go and try that gate over there. Off you go!"

The Doctor stepped back and leaned against me. Rose looked back to double-check. "Two hundred thousand?"

"Two hundred thousand," he confirmed.

"'Kay."

The Doctor grinned. The two of us shared a connection, like proud parents watching our children helping each other learn. Rose opened my doors and beckoned for Adam. "Adam? Out you come."

Adam stepped out, looking around like a child suddenly finding that all his wildest dreams had suddenly come true. "Oh my God," he gasped, awestruck.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," Rose assured him. In truth, even if Adam had stayed with us for a longer time than he did, he probably never would have gotten used to it.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"Good question," Rose said, full of knowledge. It didn't matter to him how she came by this knowledge. Rose glanced around, much like the Doctor had just seconds ago. He noticed her copying his actions and his smile widened a fraction. She was becoming more and more like him.

"Let's see," Rose pretended to calculate. "So, um… judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year two hundred thousand."

Adam, still bowled over by the sensations of time and space travel, tried to follow along.

"We're on some sort of space station. Yeah. Definitely a space station. It's a bit warm in here, they could turn the heating down…" The Doctor liked that Rose made the little speech he had given to her, her own little twist. He liked that she added the bit about the temperature, though in truth he didn't mind the heat. It was all a part of Time Lord biology. "Tell you what," Rose continued, keeping the excited energy up. "Let's try that gate. Come on!"

Rose opened the gate and the boys followed her into the observation deck. I kept a tab on their mind so I could still 'see' and 'hear' them, in a sense.

"Here we go!" Rose announced of the view. "And this is…" She paused to take in the sight of her home planet, so many years in her future. There was a sense of pride inside her, for her home and for the human race that they should still be going strong after all this time.

"… I'll let the Doctor describe it," Rose decided, gracefully handing the baton back to the _real_ expert.

"The fourth great and bountiful human empire," The Doctor declared. He had a certain amount of pride as well. He's always had a certain odd fondness for humans and their little blue planet. "And there it is: planet Earth at its height. Covered with mega-cities, five moons - population ninety-six billion. The hub of a galactic domain, stretching across a million planets, a million species - with mankind right in the middle."

It was the straw that broke the camel's back for Adam, as some humans would say. It was like sticking your tongue out for a small taste of something new, and all of a sudden receiving an unexpected and very large swallow of it. It was all too much, and he couldn't handle it. His body and mind reacted they way it normally would when things get too much; he fainted. Rose and the Doctor were not impressed.

"He's your boyfriend," the Doctor reminded her. His tone read volumes about what he thought about her choice to bring him on board. She had assured him that Adam would be able to handle it, and she was obviously wrong.

"Not anymore," Rose replied. Her tone also had a strong undercurrent. In it, she admitted she was wrong. I also noted a hint of assurance towards the Doctor that _he_ was still the main man in her life, and no-one would be able to replace him.


End file.
